Untold Memory
by RainbowSerenity
Summary: Memories are a fickle thing. Lightning finds something surprising while fighting manikins. /May contain spoilers/


I love this game, seriously. It's so weird. My level 70 Lightning can beat a level 96 Feral Chaos, where my level 100 Terra can't beat a level 80 WoL. What in the what now.

But this fic doesn't have to do with any of that! 8D As mentioned in the summary, there are spoilers for the main storyline of the game, so be warned.

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><p>From a distance, these manikins looked like nothing more than copycat pushovers. While that was true for the most part, their sheer numbers made fighting them much more difficult than it had to be. Lightning was glad she had the stamina to fight for as long as the Chaos pawns wanted to churn the things out, but she knew the same couldn't be said for the others. Kain and Tifa were probably the only ones who could hope to keep up with her, and she could tell that Vaan and Yuna were slowly wearing down. Laguna might have faired a little better, but he was practically down for the count after a manikin had struck him more harshly than usual while he was distracted with a leg cramp. She knew better than to stop and help him. The only one you could count on was yourself, after all.<p>

Besides, he deserved it for getting a _leg cramp_ while they were supposed to be fighting these things.

If there was anything at all good about these waves of manikins, though, it was that they _did_ eventually tend to stop for a bit before starting up again. It was the one thing they could take comfort in – that there'd be an end to the fighting for at least a little while.

Lightning vaguely wondered when that end would be as she sliced through a manikin. It felt like they'd been fighting this wave off forever. Even Laguna had apparently gotten his second wind and was shooting at one with his annoyingly cheerful cry.

Just when she'd stood up after striking what she thought was the last one down, Lightning stood up only to be attacked from behind. The manikin struck her harshly across her chest and she stumbled backwards, struggling desperately to regain her footing when Kain appeared out of nowhere and speared it into oblivion.

After _that_, it was actually over. For now.

"Thanks," Lightning muttered, clutching her chest where she'd been struck. This was bad news – these things were definitely getting stronger if she couldn't sense one right behind her. _You're slipping._

"Light!"

To her surprise, Tifa and Vaan looked no worse for wear, and in fact, looked like they could take on a dozen more manikins. Well, maybe Tifa could if she wiped the worried look off of her face. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Lightning replied shortly, moving her hand only to find it stained with blood. And back it went. "Anyone got a Potion?"

"These manikins grow stronger with each wave," Kain said, echoing her earlier thoughts. He was standing facing mostly away from the rest of them, nonplussed as always. "A mere Potion may not be enough if you were struck as hard as you were."

"Tch." Though Lightning had no reason to distrust Kain's explanation, she didn't like the thought of having to fight bandaged up like someone who couldn't hold up in a fight. Then again, it was better than fighting one-handed, since she wasn't sure if the blood was stopping.

She turned away and started to unzip her top, ignoring the way Laguna immediately turned away and started whistling loudly. Tifa and Yuna moved to examine Lightning. Vaan tried to follow them, but Tifa kicked him out of the way. "Girls only!"

"Fine, fine." Vaan crossed his arms behind his head and walked off towards the other two males where he belonged. Lightning just rolled her eyes. Truth be told, she didn't really want to show off her wounds to _anyone_, but better Tifa and Yuna than Vaan and Laguna, she supposed.

When she zipped down her shirt, she expected to see a raw, bloody wound. That was there, of course, but she also saw something that made her and the other two gasp out loud.

"What...what is that?" Yuna wondered out loud, covering her mouth with a hand.

"I'm not sure." Lightning stared at the mark on her left breast, hoping that the horror she felt wasn't apparent in her expression. It was a mess of intertwined black arrows surrounding a little circle of red. It wasn't blood – the wound the manikin had given her was above this weird marking. "I've never – "

- _Seen it before_, she wanted to continue, but something about that didn't sound right. Had she had this...this _thing_ back on her homeworld? It looked achingly familiar. For a split second, her memories replaced the faces of her comrades with others she was sure she hadn't seen before.

Or had she?

_Pulse l'cie Odin Snow Sazh Hope Vanille Fang Cocoon fal'cie Serah brand hatred eidolon crystal_

Lightning made a quiet, disgruntled noise and shook her head a little. What the hell? This had to be the manikin's doing. Without turning her upper body at all, she glanced over her shoulder towards the others. "Laguna. Did the manikin that hit you leave any sort of mark?"

"Huh. I dunno." He plopped down and rolled up his pant leg, presumably to check and not because of a leg cramp. After a second, he answered, "Nope, not even a scar. Why?" He hopped to his feet and started heading over. "How bad's yours?"

"Come closer and you'll regret it."

Laguna immediately stopped in his tracks and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, still grinning. "I guess it's not _that_ bad."

"Hmph." Lighting ran her fingers over the arrows, not wanting to admit just how confused and freaked out she really was. If the manikin hadn't done this...

"Hey." Tifa's calm voice interrupted her racing thoughts. "Let's get you fixed up, okay? Look, the blood's already clotted. You'll be fine."

She was right. Lightning sighed and didn't say anything as Tifa bandaged her up while Yuna cast a healing spell. Honestly, she wasn't even worried about the wound anymore. It was that mark, that – that _brand_ that worried her, though she certainly wasn't going to admit that.

It had to be something she'd gotten on her homeworld. It wasn't a tattoo; she realized that much – the bellybutton piercing was daring enough for her, not that she remembered getting _that_, either. She stared at the crisscrossing arrows for so long that she barely realized that the others had gone on ahead and Laguna was calling for her.

With one last glance at the mark, Lightning finally zipped up her top and spun around, all business. She didn't like the way everyone was staring at her – Tifa and Yuna especially were giving her worried looks. Hmph. She didn't need their pity. Obviously whatever the heck that mark was wasn't interfering with her ability to fight, so what did it matter?

"Everything okay?" Vaan asked.

"For now," was Lightning's cryptic answer.

He rolled his eyes. "You're such a barrel of joy, geez."

"She speaks the truth," Kain said before Lightning could retaliate. "The next wave of manikins could appear at any moment. It's best to prepare yourselves."

"They won't know what hit 'em!" Laguna grinned and ran off ahead. Vaan let out a noise of protest and ran after him, with Tifa and Yuna eventually following. Lightning and Kain stayed behind at a steadier pace.

Normally she would've welcomed the silence, but for once, Lightning wouldn't have minded Laguna's inane chatter. She had the feeling that Kain wanted to ask her what that had been about and she would've felt idiotic admitting that she had no clue.

To her surprise, all Kain said was, "We should follow them, rather than let them get caught in the next wave alone."

"Right."

Before she'd walked more than five steps though, Kain called her name again. "Lightning." He hadn't moved a muscle.

"What?"

"Our memories are bound to return the more we fight. If this becomes the case for you, don't let them distract you from our goal."

"Tch." Lightning glanced away. "As if I could. After all, we're stuck here."

"For the time being, yes." Kain started walking away then, apparently having no other words on the subject.

Lightning, however, stayed behind for a moment longer, her hand pressed over her breast. Time wasn't on their side, she knew that. What did it matter if she regained her memories or not?

As she followed after the others, though, she couldn't shake the sensation that she'd felt this sort pressure and despair before.

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><p>I'm totally assuming that Lightning wasn't pulled into Dissidia at the end of FFXIII. Creative license, woo! xD After all, Laguna and Squall are both there. Oh Dissidia, you and your weirdness.<p>

**Reviews **would make my year and get you delicious cookies!


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